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Why do CRM emails go to junk folders? Sophisticated spam filters are designed to keep email inboxes clean and prevent exposing users to scams and irrelevant content. Marketers must have in-depth knowledge of how spam filters operate and take action to improve their content deliverability.

What is Spam?

Spam is a general term for emails classified as irrelevant or uninvited. They’re nearly always sent in bulk to multiple people all at once. Mass emails present an opportunity for spammers to save time and make more money.

All email clients deploy spam filters to prevent email inboxes from becoming overwhelmed. Additionally, laws have been implemented against spam, including the U.S.’s CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Essentially, this has forced Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and email providers to fight back against spam.

How Do Spam Filters Work?

Spam filters rely on algorithms to scan every single email to determine whether a message is likely to be spam. Some examples include:

  • The IP address.
  • The domain.
  • The sender’s reputation.
  • Email content.
  • Audience response.

Filters have become increasingly sophisticated over the years. However, this can present a problem for marketers and businesses as they might find their messages go straight into their customers’ spam folders.

Why Do Your CRM Emails Go to Junk?

Various reasons exist as to why your emails are going to a recipient’s spam folder. Here are some of the main reasons why CRM emails go to junk:

  • Your message is irrelevant to that audience.
  • You didn’t get their permission.
  • You aren’t following email authentication methods or email deliverability rules.
  • You’re using an untrustworthy IP address.
  • Your subject line isn’t engaging and uses spammy or misleading words.
  • You’ve got broken HTML in your messages.
  • Your engagement rates are low.
  • Your subscribers have previously marked your emails as spam.
  • You aren’t including a physical address.
  • You’ve included spam trigger words in your email.

The fact is there are a million and one reasons why your emails may be tripping an email platform’s spam filters. However, there are actions you can take to maintain high email deliverability rates.

How to Ensure High Deliverability for CRM Emails

CRM emails may mistakenly end up in a spam folder for one reason or another. Businesses can stop this from happening by carefully pruning their email lists and engaging with their subscribers to ensure their messages aren’t redirected into spam folders.

Follow these tips for ensuring high deliverability for your emails.

Clean Your Email List

Make a point of regularly removing inactive and invalid email addresses. This reduces your bounce rates, ensuring email platforms don’t automatically mark your messages as spam.

Re-Engage Inactive Subscribers

Refresh your list by engaging with inactive subscribers who aren’t opening or reading your emails. Targeted re-engagement campaigns, such as through promotions and other incentives, can bring back inactive subscribers and thus stop emails from being marked as spam.

Track Your Bounce Rates

Your bounce rate is defined by how many emails are marked as undeliverable. Lists with high bounce rates are often marked as untrustworthy, impacting the sender’s reputation and further crippling their deliverability rates.

Trim your list of contacts that bounce your emails because if it goes on for too long, it’s difficult to recover.

Use a Reputable Email Service Provider

Reputable email service providers, such as MailChimp, HubSpot, and MailerLite, have established relationships with ISPs and email clients. Due to the actions they take to prevent spammers from accessing their platforms, emails that come from reputable providers are less likely to be redirected to spam.

Examples of some of the features these providers use to establish their reputations include:

  • Authentication protocols
  • Dedicated IP addresses
  • Inbox placement optimization

A random email service provider from a random country somewhere in the world is always a red flag that spam filters act upon. That’s why legitimate businesses tend to use popular services to ensure higher deliverability rates.

Avoid Spammy Language

How you write your emails also matters. If you’re someone who uses lots of exclamation marks and capital letters, the chances are your messages will be sent to your recipient’s spam folder immediately.

Overly salesy language often triggers spam filters, such as “free” or “guaranteed.” There’s nothing wrong with occasionally using these words, but if they feature consistently throughout your content, this could be a reason why your messages are failing to be delivered.

This blog provides general information and discussion about email marketing and related subjects. The content provided in this blog ("Content”), should not be construed as and is not intended to constitute financial, legal or tax advice. You should seek the advice of professionals prior to acting upon any information contained in the Content. All Content is provided strictly “as is” and we make no warranty or representation of any kind regarding the Content.

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